I would agree with their initial assessment that the clearances are most likely end-of-season discounts and clearances.

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So to answer the question posed as the title of this post – no, I don’t think Craftsman is phasing out the V60 tools or system.

Very soon, home centers will want to start carrying fall and winter outdoor tools, such as snow blowers. It’s not quite winter tool season yet, but inventory will likely start coming in.

Mowers, trimmers, and other such cordless power tools take up a lot of space. How many mowers will be sold in late August compared to the period from March through June? Trimmers?

Craftsman just launched their V60 line of cordless power tools last year, and there’s no way I could imagine it being discontinued or phased out.

Let’s say Craftsman plans to launch new brushless motor V60 cordless power tools. That wouldn’t preclude their ability to move the brushed motor or first brushless tools that launched as part of their first phase of new tool releases. There is room in Craftsman’s catalog and retailers’ warehouses for “good, better, best” options. How many different Ego blowers does Home Depot offer in their online store? At my count, there are four models, two handheld and two with backpack power supplies.

Maybe Craftsman will make changes to their tools before next spring, that certainly is possible.

There are lots of unknowns, but I would say there is very little likelihood of the still very new Craftsman V60 cordless platform being phased out.

There are never any guarantees, but if you have your heart set on a new Craftsman V60 power tool, whether it’s been on your wishlist all along or you find a clearance deal you can’t pass up, I believe that Craftsman does plan to grow the system. Craftsman has always been a big outdoor power tool brand, and that’s a market segment that Stanley Black & Decker is very interested in.

We discussed Stanley Black & Decker’s announced strategies a few months ago, where they said that Lawn & Garden was an area of potential acquisitive growth areas. They also added a lawn and garden category to their envisioned 2022 market share pie chart.

Phasing out the V60 lineup now would be a huge and costly mistake for the brand, and a big setback for parent company Stanley Black & Decker. With no foreseeable reasons to justify a phase-out of the new cordless platform, and the very strong potential for huge negative consequences, I am extremely confident that this is not what’s driving the “crazy clearance deals.”

It is also possible that competition with Amazon is driving Lowes to heavily discontinue their remaining Craftsman V60 cordless power tools.

For instance, Lowes has the string trimmer kit for $173.66 (“was $239”) and marked as clearance, and Amazon has it for $170.67 at the time of this posting.

The Craftsman V60 hedge trimmer is also marked as clearance on Lowes’ website, and priced at $172.42 for the kit (“was $219”). Amazon has it for $205.11 at the time of this posting.

Craftsman’s V60 cordless leaf blower is still $269 at Lowes, but $169 at Amazon. Since blowers will be in strong demand through the fall, that could be why it is so far excluded from Lowes’ clearance efforts.

It is also possible that Craftsman’s lower voltage or gas engine tools are outselling the V60 options. If that’s the case, wouldn’t Lowes want to devote more shelf or floor space to those offerings?

There are a lot of possibilities to explain the clearance deals on Craftsman V60 cordless outdoor power tools, but as mentioned I don’t believe the system is being phased out in any way. I cannot imagine any scenario where Craftsman or Stanley Black & Decker product managers, marketing heads, or corporate executives would green-light such a move. Well, there is one scenario, but I highly doubt that they’ve developed a safe and affordable nuclear thermoelectric power source to replace the V60 battery form factor with.

Craftsman Confirmation

We have no plans to phase out the CRAFTSMAN V60 line. It’s a popular system of tools that we will continue to develop over time.

31 Comments

As I am Jonesy, I just wanted to comment that prices at my local Lowes were:

$107.99 for hedge trimmer with 2.5Ah battery. ($219 selling price before now)
$167.99 for a push mower with a 5.0Ah battery. ($399 selling price before now)
$199.99 for a self-propelled mower with a 7.5Ah battery. ($499 before now)

While end of season clearance is a normal thing, these cuts struck me as particularly steep (around 60% off across the board), and very early — especially compared with every nearby model on the shelves from Kobalt, Greenworks, which were still selling at sticker or with minimal discounts (10% off).

Just an observation – I heard the message of “steep clearance prices” and thought I’d check if that was going on here in Canada. Couldn’t find any V60 stuff on the lowes.ca website though. Certainly the US has got some Craftsman stuff earlier than it shows up in Canada, but seems a little weird that we didn’t get any and it’s already season clearance time…

I’d like to think they were keeping it around longer, but hard to say. You made the point of bringing in fall & winter tools, but I just picked up a couple of the v60 chainsaws for $117 each, prior to coupon & discounted gift cards purchased, making them $90. I was contemplating the mower to get a 5/7.5ah battery as…

I bought the 2nd saw really for the battery. The store didn’t have extra batteries, and the price the associate listed online for a 2.5 or 5ah battery, made buying another saw a no-brainer (not that I would ever pay retail on a battery).

What I find crazy, is it has a 4 year warranty, and NOTHING says the battery has a shorter period. I bought the extra 2 year plan for $20 plan on one of them, so if in 6 years something happens , I’m covered.

It’s going to be a for a 2nd location, but I will give it a good comparison to my Milwaukee. Conveniently, they both use the same chain.

I forgot to mention, my main reason for posting, and reading Jonesy comment, I wouldn’t think they would get rid of the chainsaw this time of year. Was $280 orginally. They could have knocked only $50 off, and would have sold out with all our recent storm damage (still hearing several saws a day going).

I have the weed wacker. I doubt there’s anything more to it than clearing inventory for winter. Snowblowers should be here anytime. I hope there’s V60 options there too. I believe all of the mowers are brushed as well. While the reviews are excellent, it’s what caused me to not jump on the sale here. I assume brushless mowers are in store for next season. SBD/Craftsman most likely had a certain number of V60 items built and want to clear them out for what’s coming next. It also gets them into the hands of people who were maybe on the fence about the new line… And who knows, maybe V80 or higher is coming?

It was indicated on the product page, at least the self-propelled one, it is brushless. I really don’t think they can make any decent yard equipment, without it being brushless.

Question for anyone that bought more than one tool. Are all the batteries the same demensions & weight? I know with some the dedicated outdoor equipment lines, the battery pack does not change size depending on amp-hours.

I believe the hedge trimmer is the only handheld V60 tool that’s not explicitly described as having a brushless motor. Looking at the product pages for the mowers, there’s no mention of them having brushless motors, and there’s no “brushless” labeling I can see in the imagery either. The 3-in-1 and self-propelled Craftsman mowers are only described as having “a powerful motor.”

It’s brushed. There may have been an FAQ that was answered incorrectly. You can bet your bank account that if this thing had a brushless motor, it’d be one of the first things mentioned on the spec sheet and would have “brushless” branding and stickers all over the machine.

Lol, yes I was going by the FAQ answer. I guess for $500, I thought it would be brushless.

I did read a review saying it had a better cut than the Ego it was compared to. Even if it’s not the best, it’s only $200. I’m only using it for trimming & to collect grass for compost. Big Kubota for the majority of the yard otherwise.

I read a review on it on another blog — the clearest takeaway was that the Craftsman has really, really high blade RPMs at maintenance cut, but the mower really bogs down under heavier resistance. Almost every other mower in the test increased blade speed with thicker/taller grass — likely due to the ability of brushless motors to load-sense and adjust.

So the Craftsman probably does give a great cut/mulch if you religiously mow weekly and are taking off a quarter to a half inch at a time. But it’s probably really bad if you ever let things get slightly overgrown. For your use as a secondary mower/cleanup tool, it’s probably fantastic.

I had a Kobalt 80V brushless mower that I bought last year — it was a floor model as-is on clearance for $100. I used it twice and it was okay. I used it a third time after being away for two weeks and the high grass (6″ — nothing totally crazy) stalled and seemingly totally killed the mower. I’ve tried reconnecting the wire harness and all of that and it’s just bricked. Batteries are confirmed good as my Kobalt string trimmer still works great.

So for the time being, I’ve decided to stick with gas and see if something in the cordless OPE world really knocks me out for the price. After last year’s experience, the Craftsman on clearance was close but I couldn’t pull the trigger.

You’re probably right. It looks like it’s basically the same mower as the Greenworks 80V, so I think I could get a PCB controller replacement for like $20-$30 shipped, but it’s a sunk cost if it’s something else wrong with it.

Ultimately found a guy locally selling a Greenworks 80V mower and battery for $120. Already have the charger from another tool, and made sense to stick with Greenworks as the blades I bought for the Kobalt are interchangeable as well. Hopefully no issues with this one, and if there are, hopefully can get buy swapping out parts between this and the Kobalt mower.

I thought it was end of season sales – Lowes originally had a 1/1/2020 end date on the price. But the V60 products ended up off the Lowes website and I had to resort to brickseek to check prices and inventory.

One of our Lowes had written discontinued on the shelf sticker for the mower.

I ended up buying the self propelled mower for $200, string trimmer for $101 and hedge trimmer for $98. From 3 different stores as they all had different prices on each of the products. I don’t know if it’s Lowes dropping them if their exclusivity is up or what; but I decided it was worth the risk.

Would I be surprised no? Look at PC. SBD can be unpredictable. Do I think they would be that dumb especially after the flack from DeWalt batteries, yes. My guess is SBD would want their more homeowner brand on one steady platform. BTW got their v20 4 amp hour weed wacker, good tool.

Speaking of PC. I wonder if they’re going to phase that out or reinvent it in some way? Like high end corded tools or something. The only two places in town I ever noticed a PC display was at Blaine’s or Lowe’s. Both are gone now. The Blaine’s power tool aisle has Milwaukee on one side and on the other is B&D, Craftsman & DeWalt. Lowe’s is the same way but with different aisles and no Milwaukee. Both had PC items on clearance over the last year and now PC is only available at the auto parts stores around here. The auto stores are also selling old DeWalt stuff. Perhaps PC under SBD never really caught on? I can’t say I know anyone who bought it but surely some folks did. Perhaps PC will go to WalMart as their top tier brand next to B&D?

Same old story, proprietary battery packs from second and third tier manufacturers are ALWAYS a bad bet. If Craftsman wanted to sell more tools and inspire more confidence in their brand, they would adopt a widely used battery pack from Makita, DeWalt, Or Milwaukee. That business model is not without precedent BTW…Amazon sells at least 3 Enegitech branded power tools that use Makita batteries. https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/E725FB46-4FEC-4D6C-B359-35594E9FA82D

Craftsman is a Stanley Black & Decker brand, with their cordless power tools likely developed by the same teams that work on Dewalt, Porter Cable, and Black & Decker cordless power tools.

They would never make their tools cross-compatible with other brands, at least not across tiers.

Let’s say the Craftsman V20 interface accepted Dewalt batteries. Wouldn’t the Craftsman batteries than be compatible with Dewalt tools? Even if not out of the box, then there would be maybe a plastic tab that some users would physically remove. What would stop someone from buying Craftsman’s $69 V20 entry-priced cordless drill kit and using that battery in a Dewalt power tool? If the Craftsman battery didn’t sufficiently power the Dewalt tool, would users blame their choice of battery, or the tools?

There’s nothing wrong with proprietary battery packs as long as they remain current and are supported over the course of many years. Look at Ryobi’s 18V line as a great example of this.

Several years ago when DeWalt switched from the stem battery style to the slide in pack style, I know our local Blaine’s had a trade in program. I’m not sure of all the details as I didn’t need to participate but I do know the person I talked to at the service desk said the old batteries were to be recycled. Customers received a discount towards the new style. They had large bins full of old batteries.

The biggest problem I’m having with Lowe’s is that each store can be so incredibly different in pricing. My friend sent me a text that said “get to Lowe’s, all Kobalt hand tools are on massive clearance”. He sent me a photo with things like a 3 pack of adjustable wrenches for $3. My store still had them full price.

If you look at brickseek, you’ll see that the V60 self-propelled mower is on sale for $199, but only at 15% of Lowe’s.

I vote it end of season sale. Truckloads of new inventory needs a place to go.

Makes you wonder what the wholsale price on these tools are if they are selling 60% off. I would assume they are still making money or possibly loosing very little at 60 off the top. I understand a loss leader strategy but don’t think this would be a product category conducive to that.

I know some of the larger retailers have agreements where they can return unsold product to the manufacturer if they do not sell them in a certain time period. Some sort of consignment deal. I would think that seasonal items would be something that they would focus this type if agreement on. You would assume they would return them vs take a loss on selling them.

It’s super risky buying into Craftsman battery powered anything. SBD simply can’t be trusted. 12V was all but dead for like 10 years. 40V was dead for like 5 years and they finally officially discontinued it. XRP, is it dead or not? Still available but no tools are coming out. It’s not just batteries(which could be considered support), they’re still selling “new” tools at Lowe’s and HD. PC, future unclear but still available. Dewalt 20V and Flexvolt(because it’s 20V compatible) are the only lines you should consider from Dewalt or B&D 20V for the lower end tools. Everything else is a coin flip and they’ll kill it off or let it sit idle while they figure out what they want to do.

If you click on any 40v tool on DeWalt’s website, it lists said tool as “discontinued”. It could just be that they are coming out with new versions, but you would think they would have new products on the shelf before they discontinue old products.

Lowes seems to do this more than HD and other stores. I was looking out for a discount on an EGO mower at HD for a long time and finally asked and was told that they never go on sale because they sell regardless of season.

While I am happy for the deals I’ve gotten at Lowes, I can’t help but think that such regular deep discounts are part of the reason they’re struggling. These discounts started on August 1. There is easily 2-3 more months of routine mowing here in southeastern PA. Last year, Lowes was selling the Dewalt 40V mower for $150 around the same time.

While I do think that the sticker was high compared to other models, especially those with brushless motors, I think the push mower could have easily sold at $300.

I understand the need to rotate inventory, but Lowe’s seems to go over the top with it. I realize it’s a drop in the bucket, but it seems to be a pattern/practice across all departments. It can’t be helping their stock prices.

Many thanks for this, I didn’t have any gear, so I bought them all. Did notice absolutely WILD pricing at Lowe’s, for example $220 for the blower at a Lowe’s near me, but $109 for one at a store 30 miles away – so it pays to check around… Their return policy varies also – 30 days for the mower, but 90 for the hedge trimmer.

4 year warranty is great and I read all the battery packs are 18650 based, so they can be rebuilt in the future.

THIS NOT the last of the Craftsman V60 line, lets stop with the silly rumors.

SBD (Stanley Black and Decker) is doing the opposite by promoting their Craftsman Lawn Garden V60 product line and reducing their Dewalt Lawn & Garden line. Compare websites for Lawn/Garden products for Dewalt Vs. SBD Craftsman. Over the past few weeks Dewalt lawn & garden items have been disappearing from their site (and rummored internally).

Several press releases have also indicated that the aquisition of Craftsman name is to move SBD more agressivly into that market space. They will likely run the line hard 2-3 years and evaluate market performance and infiltration in the 3-4.